a bad day

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

pretty catchy song there by daniel powter. i've heard it off and on quite a bit...especially last year on tv during nascar. it's pretty appropriate at times!

today was kind of a bad day for me. not super-bad. just annoyingly bad. maybe you know what i mean.

first, i got up a little later than i planned. i wanted to make a batch of my chicken noodle soup for lunch, and this takes a bit of time and effort. and i didn't have quite enough time to get it done for lunch. so i made the decision at about 11am to make the meal i had planned for supper at lunchtime and then we'd just have soup for supper instead. not a bad plan. and basically, lunch worked out okay...a little later than usual, but it was do-able. i nearly burned the chicken, but it still tasted good anyways. so after washing a bunch of dishes, i went back to working on the soup.

i was nearly done. the only thing i hadn't added yet was the noodles. i had a little extra time before we would eat, so i decided to let the soup simmer for a bit and would add the noodles later. my beautiful kenmore stovetop has a "simmer select" button that you can use to make the temp even lower...it's supposed to be especially useful for simmering soups. so i decided to try it. i pushed the button. (my soup was already on low heat...#2 on the dial.) i barely...really hardly at all!...moved the dial up toward #3 and...POP!!!!

the stove's lights, clock, everything just quit.

oh great. that's just wonderful.

turns out the circuit breaker {in the big gray box on the wall of the basement} for the stove tripped. and won't reset. so we'll have to get it fixed tomorrow. thankfully, that's the only thing on that circuit breaker. if only i had cooked the noodles in my soup before that happened! then we could have just heated up bowls of soup in the microwave. but no. no soup for supper.

i was so hungry for that soup tonight too!

well, at least today wasn't a total loss. the soup is currently in the fridge awaiting a working stovetop to finish cooking it on. and my husband set up the basketball hoop for bubba after they both had a bowl of cereal for supper. i think bubba's been asking to be able to "shoot hoops" for at least a year now. as for me, i had popcorn for supper. and i even shared it with my boyz.

it's naptime!

woohoo! i could use one too, but for now i'll settle for having both my kids in bed. normally, bubba and i would be doing schoolwork during cj's afternoon nap, but the poor kid looks like he didn't sleep very good last night--he's got dark circles under his eyes--and i'm pretty sure both boys are coming down with a cold. so a little extra sleep today is a good thing.

instead of napping, i "get" to make homemade chicken noodle soup. it's really good and always nice when you've got a cold.
here's my recipe:

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
1 broiler/fryer chicken cut up (3-4 lbs)
20 cups water
2 large carrots, sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced (i leave this out 'cuz garlic gives me a tummy-ache! it's good either way.)
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, & simmer 1.5 to 2 hours until meat is tender. Remove chicken; cool. Remove and discard skin & bones; chop chicken & set aside. Strain broth.

2 large carrots, sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
homemade or store-bought egg noodles (use a double batch of homemade--see recipe below)

Return broth to pan, add carrots & celery. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer for 10 minutes until veggies are tender. Add noodles and chicken, and salt/pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer for 10 minutes until noodles are done.
Yield: 12-16 servings

Homemade Egg Noodles
1 beaten egg
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp salt
about 1 cup flour (enough to make a stiff dough)

Mix together ingredients. Roll very thin on floured surface. Let stand at least 20 minutes. Roll up loosely & cut into 1/4 inch wide strips.

i don't always make homemade noodles, but i do like them best for this soup. there are a few kinds of almost-home-made noodle that work well too. of course, regular egg noodles work too, in a pinch, but they really don't taste as good and the texture is completely different. oh yeah, i occasionally make dumplings in this soup too.

i'm getting hungry just writing about it!

i suppose i should mention that this soup is based on a recipe i found in the 2002 Taste of Home Annual Recipes book. i made a few changes to the recipe including doubling it so we have leftovers. and the noodle recipe is one my mom has used ever since i can remember. :-)